Business: Steam Condensed

Standing on an open plot in Manhattan near Madison Avenue and 59th
Street in the early 1890s was a mechanical contraption that would
have been an inspiration to Cartoonist Rube Goldberg. Snaked around
the plot in a vast maze of loops, twists and double turns were several
miles of pipe, through which was pumped a grimy mixture of water and
pulverized coal. Purpose was to demonstrate the possibilities of
pumping coal from the mines, an idea which was pronounced feasible in
its day by men like Frick and Carnegie, and won an award...